Conjoined twins are undergoing a series of tests to establish if they are fit for delicate separation surgery which includes splitting the girls’ shared liver.

Nima and Dawa, who are 14-months-old and joined at the stomach, underwent a series of tests at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital on Thursday.

The surgery is estimated to cost $250,000 and will be paid by Victorian taxpayers, although nearly $95,000 has been raised by the Australian public after a plea for donations.

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Conjoined twins will be tested ahead of their separation surgery which includes splitting the girls’ shared liver

A number of tests and scans had to be carried out because doctors had little information on the girls' condition before the arrival of the twins and their mother in Melbourne from Bhutan in the Himalayas on Tuesday.

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Doctors who have carried out assessments on the girls say specialists are happy at this stage to progress with the surgery.

An exact operating date will be confirmed after more test results are obtained.

‘We’ll be very keen to make a date and plan for surgery in the future. So far, so good,’ said anaesthetist Ian McKenzie.

Test results such as the girls’ level of nutrition are needed and their condition means they cannot be weighed separately.

A number of tests and scans had to be carried out because doctors had little information on them before the arrival of the twins and their mother from Bhutan in the Himalayas to Melbourne on Tuesday

Test results such as the girls’ strength and level of nutrition are needed - and their condition means they cannot be weighed separately

‘They’re pretty skinny, they haven’t been able to practice crawling the way normal kids would, so maybe their muscles haven’t developed so well but we want to just double check everything is alright, generally,’ said Mr McKenzie.

Doctors expect to have a better idea whether and when surgery, estimated to take up to eight hours, can proceed.

‘They look like happy healthy girls who are reacting quite well with one another,’ said Hospital head paediatric surgeon Joe Crameri.

‘So far, everything is going along the pathway that we’ve been hoping for,’ he said.

‘Mum would like this to happen soon so the girls can go on with a normal life and that’s our aim.’

The same surgical team that will operate on Nima and Dawa also separated Bangladeshi conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna in 2009.

Nima and Dawa, who were born by cesarean section on July 13 last year, are believed to be Bhutan’s first recorded conjoined twins.

Nima and Dawa who were born by caesarean section on July 13 last year are believed to be Bhutan’s first recorded conjoined twins